Manifold



June 26, 1934. H s, LAMB 1,964,164

MANIFOLD Filed April 4, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l A TTORNEY.

H. S. LAMB June 26, 1934.

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Patented June 26, 1934 UNTED STATES PATENT FFICE MANIFOLD Harold S. Lamb, San Bernardino, Calif.

Application April 4, 1930, Serial No. 441,509

12 Claims.

This invention relates to vaporizing devices.

The general object of my invention is to provide a method and means to control the speed of combustion or the rate at which the iiame front travels through the combustible mixture of the cylinders of an internal combustion engine. This is done by controlling the amount of separation of fuel particles or droplets and the heat of the evaporating surface thereby controlling the size of 19 the vaporized molecules and making them uniform which eliminates the lag of burning of the heavy or large molecules.

Another object is to provide an intensely heated chamber which forms a passage for the fuel mixture when the engine is running at practically closed throttle position and to provide a by-pass where the fuel mixture is diverted around this heating chamber as the throttle is opened. Thus ideal carbureting conditions are instantly ob- 20 tained with the intake manifold without the necessity of having to wait for the manifold to heat or cool.

Another object is to provide means to eliminate the so called gassing of large engines when they are slowing down or starting.

The method for accomplishing the above result makes use of a definite amount of heat available in the exhaust gas and also a definite amount of condensation or separation of fuel after it has been atomized by the carburetor.

With my invention I remove all the large particles or droplets which would lag behind the more readily vaporized fuel while combustion is taking place in the cylinder. The maximum size f' of the particles not being acted upon is determined by the detonating qualities of the engine and the fuel used. With an engine known to show detonating qualities the mixture must have' a more thorough separation of the heavy ends. The

heat must be applied to the separated fuel in a manner which gives an outlet temperature of the total mixture somewhat lower than a similar engine with less tendency toward detonation.

One can readily see that if a chemically correct mixture were being burned, these heavy ends or unvaporiaed particles of fuel would have no oxygen with which to unite as all the molecules of oxygen are accounted for by the lighter ends of fuel when the carburetor is being adjusted. If suicient air is supplied to allow enough oxygen to give a CO2 reaction to the heavy unvaporized ends, then the mixture burns too slowly, as the heavy ends do not readily vaporize and the piston leaves top center giving expansion before the mixture has time to burn. ,This causes a spit (Cl. 12S-133) back in the carburetor.

It is a well known fact that too lean a mixture is slow burning.

In cases of large engines quite often a strong gas odor is noticed coming from the exhaust while slowing up with the clutch engaged.

and broken up, thus forming this very able odor. This objectionable odor is objectionovercome by causing the intake mixture to pass through a very hot passageway thus breaking up the heavy particles of fuel and allowing the mixture to burn completely in the cylinders.

The object of my invention therefore, is to overcome this knocking or detonating by removing the droplets of liquid from the vaporized hydrocarbon and changing these droplets into a gaseous form and then mixing th e gaSeOllS vapor with the previously vaporized products to provide a combustible mixture of fuel of uniform consistency.

A further object of the invention is to provide a vaporizer including a tube or manifold having means therein for vaporizing droplets and having means for controlling the vaporization of the droplets.

Another object of the invention is to provide a vaporizing device including a passageway controlled in such manner that the vaporization may be altered to suit various requirements. Other objects and advantages of the invention will bc apparent from the following description taken drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a vertical cross section of in connection with the accompanying an intake manifold embodying features of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2 2 of Fig Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3 3 of Fig. i. Fig. 4 is a section taken on line 4 4 of Fig. l.

Fig. 5 is a section partly in elevation modified control means.

Fig. 6 is a section on line 6 6 of Fig.

showing a Figs. 7 and 8 are sections through a cylinder showing the ame advance, and

Fig. 9 is a chart showing the compa of fuel droplets.

rative size Referring to the drawing by reference characters I have indicated my device generally at 10. As shown, the device comprises an exhaust manifold l1 and a vaporizing device 12.

These devices may be built integral or separately shown.

The manifold 11 includes a conduit 13 having port members 14 thereon which communicate with the exhaust passageway of the hydrocarbon engine. The conduit 13 at one end extends downwardly as at 15 and communicates with a passage 16 in a fitting 17 shown as secured to the exhaust manifold. The conduit 13 at the other end is curved as at 18 and engages a flanged portion 19 on the vaporizting device 12. A companion flange 20 on the vaporizing device engages a portion 2l of the manifold and the portion 2l communicates with a passage 22 in the fitting 17, previously described.

A shaft 23 extends through the passages 16 and 22 and has an operating handle 24 thereon. Fixed on the shaft are a pair of valve members 25 and 26. These valves have edges shaped to fit the passageways and the valves are so secured on the shaft 23 that when the handle 24 is operated one or the valves will move to a passage opening position while the other valve is moving towards a passage closing position, and in this way by operating the handle 24 one may control t-he direction which the exhaust gases take in passing through the manifold 11.

The vaporizing device 12 includes an upper portion which is shown as substantially cylindrical and which is closed at the upper end by an end portion 31 and includes an inlet 32 to which the carburetor 33 is secured by bolts 34. The throttle of the carburetor is indicated at 35 while 36 indicates the choke and 37 the supply line.

The upper portion 30 of the device is shown as provided with an outstanding flange 38 to which a lower cylindrical portion 39 is secured by bolts 40. This lower portion includes an annular chamber 39 which is provided with an inlet 41 on which the flange 19 (previously mentioned) is mounted and an outlet 42 to which the portion 21 ci the exhaust manifold is secured.

The lower portion 39 is provided with an upper end 43 which I term a heating member, the purpose of which will presently be described. This end portion 43 has a pipe 44 integral therewith, thereby affording a conduit 45 through which gases may pass to the intake manifold 46 to which the pipe 44 is connected. The portion 39 also includes a lower wall 47 which inclines upwardly and joins a more abruptly inclined wall 48 which is connected to the end 43 as shown.

Mounted within the upper portion 30 I show a tube 50 which is iiared as at 51 at its lower end. The pipe 44 projects above the end 43 and the lower end of the iiared portion 51 of the tube 50 is also spaced from the pipe and from the end 43 so that a channel 52 is provided for the passage of fuel. The tube 50 may be supported by arms 53 which are removably secured to arms 53 integral with the wall of the upper portion 30. Surrounding the tube 50 and spaced slightly below the upper end thereof I provide an annular disk 54 which includes a plurality of small apertures 55 adjacent the tube 50.

Positioned in the portion 30 provide a bell 56 which is of approximately the same diameter as the disk 54 and is provided with a threaded stem 57 which is positioned in a similarly threaded aperture 58 in the top 3l and includes an angular handle 59.

Secured to the portion 13 of the exhaust manifold 13 as by screws 60 I provide a box member 61 which forms a super-heated chamber 62 having an inlet 53 and an outlet 64. The inlet 63 is connected by a tube 65 to a conduit 66 which extends through the vaporizer portion 39 and opens on the heating member 43. The outlet 64 is con nected by a tube 67 to a boss on the intake mani fold 46 which is provided with an aperture 68 opening into the intake manifold.

The valves 25 and 26 may be manually operated but 1 preferably provide a thermo-responsive arm 70 positioned in a chamber 71 on the vaporizer portion 39. (See Figs. 1 and 4.) One end of the arm 70 is anchored as at '72 and the opposite end of the arm is connected to one end of a rod 73, the opposite end of which is connected to the valve arm 24.

When the device 10 is operatively installed on an internal combustion engine and the engine is cold the free end of the arm 70 is in a raised position as shown, and the valve 25 closes the passageway through the portion 16. Thus when the engine is started the exhaust gases pass into the portion 13 of the manifold 1l thence up through the portion 18 through the inlet 41 into the chamber 39 and thence through the outlet 42 through the portion 21 of the exhaust inani- .told into and through the passage 22 of the fitting 17, past the valve 26. Thus when the engine is cold all the exhaust gases pass through the chamber 39' of the vaporizer thereby quickly heating the member 43.

The fuel from the carburetor 33 enters the portion 30 through the inlet 32 passing between the bottom of the bell 56 and the disk 54 into the tube 5G and thence through the conduit 45 into the intake manifold 46. As the fuel passes into the portion 30 the heavy particles thereof which the suction cannot draw into the upper end of the tube 50 fall down onto the heating member 43 where they are vaporized and then drawn into the tube 50. Also any heavy particles of fuel adhering to the inner walls of the tube 50 will ow down through the passageway 52 onto the heating member 43. Should heavy particles of fuel collect on the disk 54 they will flow through the apertures 55 in the disk and down the outer surface of the tube onto the heating member 43.

Exceptionally heavy particles of fuel which collect on the heating member 43 will ow through the conduit 66 and the tube 65 into the chamber 62 of the member 6l wherein they will be heated until they atomize suiciently to be drawn through the tube 6'7 into the intake inanifold 46 through the aperture 68.

Any heavy particles of fuel collecting in the intake manifold will flow through the aperture 68 and the tube 67 into the chamber 62 of the member 61 where they will be heated and similarly returned to the intake manifold.

The bell 56 and the disk 54 prevent the heavy particles of fuel from being drawn directly trom the inlet 32 into the tube 50 and the space between the bell and the disk may be varied by turning the threaded stem to move the bell either up or down to suit various conditions. The fuel and air mixture is made to turn a sharp angle on entering the tube 50 and when the bell 56 is moved towards the tube the angle is increased and when the bell is moved away from the tube the angle is decreased. This gives an accurate control on the amount of separation desired as 'i the centrifugal force of the mixture going around this angle causes the heavy ends or unvaporized fuel to be thrown out of the stream and onto the heating member 43. It can easily be seen by this construction that the vaporized fuel will be carried on through and not be greatly heated as it does not come in contact with the exhaust heated surface 43.

When the chamber 39 and the heating member 43 have become sufficiently heated the thermoresponsive arm moves downward thereby moving the valve 26 to a closed position and the valve 25 to an open position. When the valves are in this position most of the exhaust gases will pass directly through the portion 15 into and through the passage 16 of the fitting 17 but some of the gases will back up into the chamber 39 and retain the member 43 heated.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the thermo-responsive arm 70 will automatically actuate to retain the member 43 at a predetermined degree of heat at all times during the operation of the engine.

In Figs. 5 and 6 I have shown a slightly modified form of my device wherein the bell 56 includes a hollow sleeve which is slidably mounted on a stem 76 secured to the top 31 of the portion 30. Secured to the sleeve 75 I provide a grooved collar 77 which is engaged by a shifting lever '78 secured to a shaft '79 which extends out through the side wall of the portion 30 where it has secured thereon an arm 80. The upper end of the arm 80 is connected to one end of a rod 81, the opposite end of which is connected to the throttle lever 35 of the carburetor.

This arrangement is such that when the throttle lever 35 is in an idling position the bell 56 engages the end of the tube 50 and closes the passageway thereinto and as the throttle lever 35 moves to an open position the bell is raised away from the tube 56 thereby opening the passageway thereinto.

When the bell 56 closes the passageway into the tube 50 the idling fuel passes through the conduit 66 and the tube 65 into the chamber 62 of the member 61 and thence through the tube 67 into the intake manifold 46 thus producing a superheated idling fuel mixture.

In cases of gassing engines this is desirable as the super-heated mixture will not gas. To be certain that this mixture follows the above described passageway it will be necessary to eliminate passage 52, In this case the flared out portion 5l of the tube 50 will seat directly on the extended portion of tube 44.

Fig. 7 shows the manner in which the flame is propagated in the cylinders 84 of a normal high compression engine. The area shown at 85 represents the burned gas while the area S6 shows the burning mixture with the flame front at the line S7. In this case the lighter fuel (shown by dots) is burned ahead of the heavy fuel (shown by little circles) and a denite lag in the burning action is noticed. The higher the compression the greater will be this lag because the action of compression tends to condense the fuel and form more of the larger droplets or heavy particles which slows up the burning action. Conversely it is true that increasing the compression speeds up the burning action of the lighter, more easily vaporized ends as it packs them tighter together.

Fig. 8 shows how the flame is propagated in the cylinder 88 of a high compression engine when a manifold of my improved design is used. The heavy ends of the fuel have been transformed so that their size is equal to the size of the lighter fuel. It must be understood that the temperature of this mixture as it enters the cylinders must be kept low, about as a high inlet temperature causes the lighter ends to become too finely divided. This results in too rapid burning of the light ends and an unnecessary widening of the margin in the burning area of the light and heavy ends of the fuel as shown in Fig. '7. This margin of light burning fuel can easily be held to such a small amount that the mixture will not detonate even under the highest compression consistent with a Well designed motor by following the principles used in the design of this improved manifold and a mixture of hydrocarbon fuel may be readily formed which will burn as shown in Fig. 8.

Figure 9 is a table showing at 90, 91 and 92 three representative fuels suitable for internal combustion engine use. I have shown these three fuels to draw attention to the fact that fuels are heterogeneous and have many boiling points which cause them to break up into various sizes of molecules when acted upon by the spraying action of the carburetor. rhere is a very great tendency for the larger molecules to form droplets instead of a true vapor and this tendency is encouraged in my improved construction by expanding the area of the manifold as shown at 30. It is very important to determine the correct size of this expanded chamber as too great an amount of separation will result in an over supply of fuel on the vaporizing plate which results in too much heat being required to keep the plate dry. This excess heat may be enough to overheat the lighter fuel and cause detonation.

The bell 56 is movable and the disk 54 together with tube 50 are removable and can be changed in size and shape. 'Ihis gives an excellent opportunity to exchange these parts and adjust them to give the exact amount of separation necessary to give engine performance and eliminate detonation.

I have found by experimenting with various fuels that the lighter fuels which approximate those shown in the column indicated in Fig. 9 at 90 especially those having casing head gasoline blended with them give entirely satisfactory results with the set up as shown in Fig. 1. When using fuels of the heavier type such as indicated in Fig. 9 in the column designated 92 I have found that acceleration was unsatisfactory if the fes iis

izo

engine has been operating under light load and developing too little heat to vaporize fuel containing a large amount of high boiling point fractions. The reason for this poor acceleration was found to lie in the fact that it was impossible to fill the chamber 10 with vaporized fuel when almost 50% of the fuel requires over 300 of heat to vaporize it and the vaporizing surface is not up to that temperature. One can readily see that the Vaporizing surface of the chamber 30 would be over-taxed and would fail to vaporize enough of the heavy ends of the fuel to give the desired acceleration.

It will be understood that I may alter the arrangement shown in Fig. 1 so that the heating chamber 62 is enlarged to meet the requirements of certain constructions. The shape of the chamber l0 may be changed as desired and reduced in area o1' cubical content in order to reduce the condensation of the fuel mixture which passes through it without departing from the spirit of my invention.

It is one of the most important features of my invention to provide an extremely heated mixture for light loads and a cool mixture for heavy loads by means of by-passing the mixture through a super-heated passage when the throttle is closed las iso

and then providing a construction to permit the fuel mixture to go through a second passage that is maintained relatively cooler than the rst passage as the carburetor throttle is opened.

From the foregoing description one may see that excellent results may be obtained and this invention is flexible in design and may be readily adapted to use for any kind of fuel and in combination with any size or type of engine.

What I claim is:

1. In a vaporizing device, a body including a hollow upper portion and a hollow lower portion, said upper portion being adapted to be placed in communication with a carbureter, said lower portion having an inlet and an outlet adapted to be placed in communication with an exhaust manifold, said lower member having a heating member therein, a conduit passing through said heating memb r, there being a pocket adjacent said conduit, a tube moimtcd in said upper portion and spaced from the uppe end of the sait ecnduit to afford a sinuous passage, and a shell member movably mounted in said upper portion for movement towards and from said tube to centrol the passage of lluid to said tube.

2. In a vaporizing device, a body including a cylindrical upper portion and a cylindrical lower portion, said upper portion having an opening adapted to be placed in communication with a carbureter, said lower portion having an inlet and an outlet adapted to be connected to an exhaust manifold, said lower member having a heating member therein, a conduit passing through said heating member and having a portion projecting above said heating member, a tube mounted in said upper portion and having a flaring lower wall spaced from the upper end of the said conduit to afford an annular passage, and a shell member movably mounted in said upper portion for movement towards and from said tube to control the passage of fluid to said tube and means to move said shell member.

3. In a device of the class described, a gas engine having a plurality of exhaust ports, a mani-- fold communicating with said ports, said manifold including two portions, means to selectively direct exhaust gases through either one of said portions, said gas engine including an intake manifold, a vaporizing device including a condensation chamber, one wall of said chamber comprising a heating member, said heating member being exposed to the gases passing through one portion of said exhaust manifold, there being a passage from said condensation chamber to said intake manifold and another passage spaced from said rst passage and leading from said vaporizing device to said intake manifold and means to vary the area of said last mentioned passage.

4. In a vaporizing device, a body including a cylindrical upper portion and a cylindrical lower portion, said upper portion having an opening adapted to be placed in communication with a carbureter, said lower portion having an inlet and an outlet adapted to be connected to an exhaust manifold, said lower member having a heating member therein, a conduit passing through said heating member, there being a pocket above said heating member, a vaporizing member secured to said exhaust manifold, a chamber in said vaporizing member, an inlet to said chamber and an outlet from said chamber, means connecting said member and said Vaporizing device, said means forming a passageway from the upper surface of said heating member to the inlet of said chamber and means to connect said member to an intake manifold.

5. In a vaporizing device, a body including a cylindrical upper portion and a cylindrical lower portion,`said upper portion having an opening adapted to be placed in communication with a carbureter, said lower portion having an inlet and an outlet adapted to be connected to an exhaust manifold, said lower portion having a heating member therein, a conduit passing through said heating member and having a portion projecting above said heating member, a tube mounted in said upper portion and having a flaring lower wall spaced from the upper end of the said conduit to afford an annular passage, and a shell member movably mounted in said upper portion for movement towards and from said tube to control the passage of fluid to said tube and means to move said shell member.

6. In a device of the class described, a gas engine having a plurality of exhaust ports, a manifold communicating with said ports, said manifold including two portions, means to selectively direct exhaust gases through either one of said portions, said means including a valve for controlling the passageway through each of said manifold portions, said valves being arranged wl'iereby when one of said valves is fully closed the other of said valves is fully open, a thermoresponsive arm, said arm being connected to said valves whereby when said arm is moved said valves will be moved, and means whereby the actuation of said arm is controlled by the heat from said exhaust gases, said gas engine including an intake manifold, a vaporizing device including a condensation chamber, one wall of said chamber comprising a heating member, said heating member being exposed to the gases passing through one portion of said exhaust manifold, there being a passage from said condensation chamber to said intake manifold.

7. In a vaporizing device, a body including a cylindrical upper portion and a cylindrical lower portion, said upper portion having an opening adapted to be placed in communication with a carburetor, said lower portion having an inlet and an outlet adapted to be connected to an exhaust manifold, said lower portion having a heating member therein, a conduit passing through said heating member and having a portion projecting above said heating member, a tube mounted in said upper portion and having a flaring lower wall spaced from the upper end of said conduit to afford an annular passage, a shell member movably mounted in said upper portion for movement towards and from said tube to control the passage of fluid to said tube and means to move said shell member, a vaporizing member secured to said exhaust manifold, a chamber in said vaporizing member, an inlet to said chamber and an outlet from said chamber, means connecting said member and said vaporizing device, said means forming a passageway from the upper surface of said heating member to the inlet of said vaporizing chamber and f means connecting said member to an intake manifold, said means forming a passageway from the outlet of said member to the interior of said manifold.

8. In a device of the class described, a gas engine having a plurality of exhaust ports, a manifold communicating with said ports, said manifold including two portions, means to selectively direct exhaust gases through either one of said portions, said means including a valve for controlling the passageway through each of said manifold portions, said valves being arranged whereby when one of said valves is fully closed the other of said valves is fully open, a thermoresponsive arm, said arm being connected to said valves whereby when said arm is moved. said valves will be moved, and means whereby the actuation of said arm is controlled by the heat from said exhaust gases, said gas engine including an intake manifold., a vaporizing device, said vaporizing device including a body, said body including an upper portion and a lower portion, said upper portion having an opening adapted to be placed in communication with a carburetor, said lower portion having an inlet and an outlet adapted to be connected to said exhaust manifold, said lower member having a heating member therein, a conduit passing through said heating member and having a portion projecting above said heating member, means to control the passage of fluid flowing through said conduit, a vaporizing member secured to said exhaust manifold, a chamber in said vaporizing member', an inlet to said chamber and an outlet from said chamber, means connecting said vaporizing member and said vaporizing device, said means forming a passageway from the upper surface of said heating member to the inlet of said cha-mber, means connecting said vaporizing member to an intake manifold.

9. In a device of the class described, a gas engine having a plurality of exhaust ports, a manifold communicating with said ports, said manifold including two portions, means to selective-- ly direct exhaust gases through either one of said portions, said gas engine including an intake manifold, a vaporizing device including a condensation chamber and a heating member, said heating member being exposed to the gases passing through one portion of said exhaust manifold, there being a passage from said condensation portion to said intake manifold and a second individual passage leading from said vaporizing device to said intake manifold and means to control the now through said last mentioned passage.

10. In a vaporizing device, a body including a hollow upper portion and a hollow lower portion,

said upper portion being adapted to be placed in communication with a carburetor, said lower portion including a chamber having an inlet and an outlet adapted to be placed in communication with an exhaust manifold, said lower member having a heating member therein, means to provide communication between said upper and lower portion, there being a pocket adjacent said means, means mounted in said upper portion and spaced from the upper end of the said conduit communication providing means to afford a sinuous passage, and a valve member movably mounted in one of said portions for movement to control the passage of fluid to last mentioned means.

11. In a vaporizing device, a body including a hollow upper portion and a hollow lower portion, said upper portion having an opening adapted to be placed in communication with a carburetor, said lower portion having an inlet and an outlet adapted to be connected to an exhaust manifold, said lower member having a heating member therein, there being a pocket adjacent to said heating member, a vaporizing member secured to said exhaust manifold, a chamber in said vaporizing member, an inlet to said chamber and an outlet from said chamber, means connecting said member and said vaporizing device, said means forming a passageway from the upper surface of said heating member to the inlet of said chamber and means to connect said memberl to an intake manifold.

12. In a device of the class described, a gas engine having a plurality of exhaust ports, a manifold communicating with said ports, said manifold including two portions, means to selectively direct exhaust gas through either one of said portions, said gas engine including an intake manifold, a source of supply for a fuel mixture, a throttle, said intake manifold having two passages, means to cause the fuel mixture from said source to flow through one of said passages at idling throttle position and means to direct the fuel mixture away from first mentioned intake passage and through the second intake passage as the fuel control throttle is opened.

HAROLD S. LAMB. 

